Freshwater equipment to saltywater

[Chucky]

I can remember reading in (what seemed at the time) a very good book Confessions of a Fish Doctor that we shouldn't use old equipment from freshwater when going to saltwater...That the biota are detrimental to saltwater biota, and we shouldn't contaminate fresh with salt.

At work, we dump our nets used to catch everything fresh or salt down in the very large liverock sump that handles the salt system.

What's everyones thoughts?

 

[ChrisRD]

I've used tanks and equipment for saltwater setups that were formerly used in freshwater setups. I've always rinsed/cleaned the stuff off and never had any problems. I guess if you were worried you could clean the stuff with a mild bleach/water solution or something similar (just make sure to rinse very well with freshwater when you're done! ).

That said, I think you'll find most of the filtration, etc. used in freshwater isn't the best choice for a reef setup. If you're going marine fish-only you could probably get away with using more of it, but not so much for a reef...

JMO & HTH

 

[SnowManSnow]

I converted my FW tank to SW about 4 or 5 months ago.. no problem. RD is right though, most of the setup had to be rethought so the Fw equipment isnt used in my SW tank.

 

[Chucky]

I'm going to be using 10lbs of live rock in my 10 gal setup...trying to find rocks with lots of surface area, too.

I've switched my AquaClear mini for my older 150 - the model with the vertical chambers, not the horizontal basket. It will allow for larger foam insert surface area, along with an amrid cartridge.

In conjunction with the little mini powerhead, I'm hoping it should do the trick for hardier livestock. What natural media could I put in the tiny powerhead chamber to help with filtration? A few ceramic hex cylinders?

 

[Juck]

If you have LR and a sandbed you don't need any more surface area for bacteria. A handful of sand has more surface area than a bucketful of ceramic rings.

Don't worry too much about the surface area of the LR,,,a lot of the bacterial magic happens within the rock,,,, not just on the surface,, so just pick pieces that look nice.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

you don't need to use the amrid insert for a salt tank. the sponge will need to be tossed quite frequently and replaced as it will trap detritus and if left will increase the nitrates in the tank over time. I tend to toss the foam insert with each weekly water change in my 2.5 gallon. You can run the carbon if you'd like. some run it only occasionally to polish the water and some run it 24/7.

 

[WannaBeReefer]

From what I read, I think that one of the reasons for not using FW equipment was because alot of people medicate their FW tanks with copper at some point in time. The copper is very hard to get rid of and is not something you want in a reef tank.